72 NATUEAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. 



Co. "Wicklow. Mr. Verrall took it at Bannoch, in Scotland, last year 

 (1870). 



Sargus flavipes and S. bipuncta are both rather rare ; the latter is 

 a local insect. On looking over the Diptera I sent him, Mr. Verrall 

 says he is bound to conclude that Irish Diptera are more brightly coloured 

 than English ones ; that he suspected this before, but is now satisfied. It 

 is known that Irish Lepidoptera are usually more darkly coloured than 

 and that in several species melanism is more fully observed in Irish 

 than in English species. 



Lucilia sp. regina (?) This was new to Mr. Verrall, and he asked me 

 to get him some if I found the species abundant this year. The species 

 had been very abundant on the inside of the windows of the dissecting 

 room, Medical School, Trinity College, Dublin, in the latter half of the 

 month of May, and I would not have caught them, from a belief that 

 they were the common L. Caesar, but that I wished to get my hand 

 into practice for the coming summer by setting some of them. A 

 Lucilia, of which I took a pair near Malahide, has not been yet made 

 out. Mr. Verrall queries it as a variety of L. Caesar. 



The Tab anus bovinus is the largest of the genus, and is popularly 

 called the gadfly or gad bee ; but it is not the true gadfly, nor of the same 

 genus. The gadflies, whether the gad or goad of the horse, ox, sheep, 

 goat, or deer, belong to genus (Estrus, and their flight is silent ; while 

 that of the tabanus is accompanied by a loud hum. Several of these 

 specimens were caught by standing still, when I heard the loud hum 

 which announced a tabanus to be wheeling round me in gradually nar- 

 rowing circles, about to light on some part of my coat. The heavy in- 

 sect is easily taken if allowed to settle. The (Estrus bovis lays its eggs in 

 hides of oxen, and I have here a piece of hide of a deer from India, in 

 which the larvae or caterpillar of a species of (Estrus has become esta- 

 blished, making what, in the case of (Estrus bovis, are known as warbles 

 in cattle of this country. I also have the larval form of the (Estrus 

 sequi known as bots, which live in the stomach of the horse. 



The Bombilii, or beeflies, are noticeable for the very elegant and 

 fine fur which covers their bodies, for their long probosces with which 

 they sip honey on the wing, and for the shrill singing hum they make 

 in flight. Some of them are abroad early in spring. B. major I took 

 early in April, sucking from Caltha palustris. 



Volucella bombglans has a very strong resemblance to an humble bee, 

 and so have females of Eristalis intricarius, and both may be found 

 mixed with various species of Bombus at the sallow blossoms in early 

 spring, when the resemblance between them is to many very striking. 

 This Volucella (bombylans), in its larval state, is parasitic upon the 

 humble bees, so that the fly seems to turn its strong likeness to a very 

 useful account. 



The remainder of the flies are of the commoner sort, with which every 

 collector must commence, and I do not think that they will suggest 

 any remarks which would justify my trespassing longer on the time of 

 the Society. 



